In 1982, a Texas firm called American Discount Stamps proposed to combine postage stamps with advertising matter. A gummed stamp was affixed to a 2-inch by 3-inch label bearing a printed advertisement that had adhesive on the back. Users would affix the entire label containing the affixed stamp to an envelope or parcel. Ken Lawrence discusses this in his book, Linn 's Plate Number Coll Handbook. The system is disclosed U.S. Pat. No. 4,872,706.
A very similar postal product is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,423,573 were a personal image is printed as a separate sticker and adhered directly to an official stamp in a designated area. As described in articles in the hobby press the U.S. Pat. No. 5,423,573 patent is almost identical to a scheme from the 19th century. From 1876 to 1886, the U.S. Post Office Department permitted so-called advertising collars to be printed around the embossed stamps on stamped envelopes as discussed in.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,873,605 discloses creating a postage stamp using an electronic camera to capture an image of oneself via a vending machine. Likewise U.S. Pat. No. 5,923,406 discloses producing a postage stamp using an electronic camera and a vending machine. In both cases a personal image is captured by an electronic camera in a kiosk and printed in a designated area on and official postal product.
There are several problems that are not addressed using these methods. The first problem is no attempt is made to designate an area where an official postal product may be placed which has been modified based on an image characteristic of the official postal product. The second is no attempt is made to designate an area where an official postal product may be placed which has been modified based on an image characteristic of the associated personal image. Another problem is the placement of the official postal product in the exact area designated. If the official postal product is not positioned accurately, the aesthetics may be degraded. Yet another problem is if the image characteristic chosen for example color is not properly matched, the mismatch will detrimentally affect the appearance of the personal postal product.
The present invention provides a method and system for making a postal product assembly by obtaining a personal image and determining at least one characteristic the image. Obtaining an official postal product (stamp) having at least one characteristic and modifying at least one characteristic of the personal image in response to at least one know characteristic of the postal product.